Hero, Villain, Savior, Conqueror
by Shadowbolt the Demon
Summary: What if Danny had said yes when Vlad had asked him to renounce his father and join him? What if then, two years later, he started having second thoughts? How could his friends and family forgive him? How could he forgive himself?
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: **This is going to be my only disclaimer for the entire story so listen up—I don't own Danny Phantom.

**A/N: **If you want me to update, you had better review.

**Prologue**

"Think about it, Danny; all the power and money you could ever want—and all you have to do is renounce your father," Vlad Masters—or rather Plasmius said to Danny Fenton, who was currently trapped in a cube that was restraining his powers and wouldn't let him change back.

Danny had to laugh at Vlad's pathetic attempt. "You have me stuck in a box, want to kill my dad, and marry my mom, and you expect me to join you? I think that ectoplasmic blast twenty years ago fried your brain _and _your skin."

Vlad, oddly enough, didn't look upset or mad, just amused. "Is that so, Danny?"

"Yes, it is."

Vlad raised an eyebrow and studied Danny coolly. "But would it really be so hard if you did reject Jack? After all, Jack is the source for all your problems."

Danny looked at him suspiciously. "What do you mean?"

Now Vlad let out a small laugh. "You don't know? You don't realize it, Danny?" Vlad paused for a second and then continued. "If your father had never built the portal to the ghost zone, you would have never become a halfa. If you had never become a halfa, you wouldn't have to worry about fighting ghosts, or keeping your secret hidden."

_Or from trying to get home on time,_ Danny thought. _I wouldn't have to worry about all of Mom's and Dad's inventions either, or Jazz finding out, or—or any of the stuff I've never had to worry about before—_

"You could just be worrying about things normal teenager boys should be worrying about," Vlad said. "Not saving the world." Vlad saw Danny hesitating and looking uncomfortable, and allowed himself a small smile. "Think about it, Danny. Your life has to have gotten quite complicated since you've become a half-ghost … But join me, Danny, and I can make those problems disappear."

_Can he?_ Danny wondered. Ever since he became a ghost, Danny wished he could be normal again. Tucker may have been jealous of him, but Danny was jealous of Tucker. Tucker never had to worry about being a ghost. But Danny had to worry about that—and more. _But can he? _Danny glanced up at Vlad. _He does have twenty years of experience, and he is a billionaire. But he's only a halfa, not some kind of god. How can he make my problems go away?_

"How can you make my problems go away?" Danny asked, sounding more confident than he felt. "Unless you can get rid of my powers."

Vlad smiled. "Unfortunately, I cannot get rid of your powers, but I can show you how to control them. I can educate you myself, and you wouldn't have to worry about grades. If you stay here, no one will make ghost-hunting equipment or be on the lookout for ghosts.

_He—he's right, _Danny thought, surprised._ He can offer me all of those things, Dad can't. In fact no one else can show me how to control my powers …_

"So what is your chose, Danny?" Vlad asked after a few minutes of silence.

Danny looked up, his eyes icy cold. "Da—Jack gave me the nickname 'Danny.' My name is Daniel."


	2. In It's Own Right

**A/N: WARNING! This chapter is why I'm changing the rating to M, so be warned. **It might only deserve a T-rating, but better to be safe than sorry 'cause the site is deleting stories.

Also, if **I don't get two reviews, I will not update**. People, it's not hard to review.

Check out my update profile (becasue it really needed to be updated) for more descriptive summeries, notes on when I'll update next and stuff like that. And note, the story title is from the game "Knights of the Old Republic," a Star Wars game and one of the my favorite XBox games.

**C****hapter 1: In It's Own Right**

Daniel laid in his new bed, in his new room, in his new mansion. So much had changed in the last few hours, least of all his bed. It was much softer than his old one and Daniel kept twisting and turning, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't fall asleep, so he just contented himself with staring at his new luminous alarm clock. The red numbers reminded him of blood, like the blood of all the people at Vlad's high school reunion …

_All the adults chatted cheerfully in the main hall—with Jack Fenton's voice sticking out because he was shouting for one reason or another—where the reunion was being held. They never could have expected what would happen next. _

_The chatting continued, but suddenly the ceiling above them started to crack to reveal blood-red light streaming through. For a second the adults just looked up, silently. Then they started to scream. Then they started to run. The roof exploded and stone came raining down on the floor, leaving a hole in their wake. Out of the hole came Plasmius, but everyone was too busy running to notice him. Suddenly all of the doors were slammed shut by clones of Plasmius which then flew through the doors and joined the Plasmius hovering above the hall._

_The people were trapped._

_The chaos only got worse. But out of the chaos Jack's voice rang clear. "Look! A ghost! Ha, I knew they existed!"_

_Plasmius gave Jack an amused glace and deliberately glided down to him. "So this is the … _famous_ ghost-hunter Jack Fenton. I must admit I expected different—" Plasmius was forced to make himself transparent as a blast from a machine gun was shot at him. The Fenton Ghost Gun. Plasmius made himself solid once more and smiled at the holder of the gun. Maddie. "Now that is more like it, but I am afraid you will have to do better than that."_

_"Say good-bye, ghost scum!" Maddie said and tossed another gun to Jack and they started firing simultaneously. The shot brought up dust and dirt and the hall was completely silent after Jack and Maddie had stopped firing and waited for the dust to clear. The dust had almost all settled when—_

_"Boo."_

_The chaos erupted once more as Plasmius appeared unharmed. Jack looked at Maddie nervously and Maddie looked afraid. The look on her face was clear. There were no more weapons, there was no more fight. _

_Plasmius smiled sickly and blasted a man running away to the right of him. The man fell down, headless, blood pooling on the stone floor._

_"Oh no," Plasmius said with a voice used for children. "You people got the floor dirty. I am afraid I am going to have to punish you." Plasmius started to fire more ectoplasmic blast, started killing more people … One person fell after another in a never-ending rain. Some people were killed with ectoplasmic blasts, others were grabbed and dropped from the top of the three-story ceiling, others were tortured by having Plasmius put a transparent hand in them and twist it around, creating unimaginable pain before they were killed. _

_Within minutes there was silence in the hall. None of the people who where still alive moved nor did they make a sound. They looked fearfully, no they looked at Plasmius with terror. There were five left. Jack, Maddie, and three other. _

_In an eye-blink, Plasmius' hand shot up and killed one of the surviving, nameless women with a blast directly to her heart. The man next to her let out a squeak of fright and terror as she hit the floor with a dull thump. The fall nearly blocked out the sound. Nearly. Plasmius then killed him in the same manner, but no one made a sound this time. _

_Plasmius had to smile at the fear he had just instilled. "Go," he said quietly, but his voice boomed and echoed in the hall. "Leave and tell all the people of this. I am not done. I am only beginning." _

_Plasmius didn't turn invisible, he dissipated. One door flew opened and hit the wall behind it with a sound that was akin to a warning. Yet the three survivors couldn't move. They just stood there, with tears running down Jack's and Maddie's faces. The third man slowly turned around and walked out of the hall numbly. But Jack and Maddie stood there for a minute longer, and then Jack walked towards one of the bodies. This one was one of the more badly mangled ones. One of the legs looked broken and badly twisted from landing on it after Plasmius had dropped her. Another arm was shorter than the other—the impact of landing on it had driven it down into the body. There was blood everywhere on the body, hers and other people's. _

_It was Jazz. Jack picked up Jazz as if she were glass and slowly walked to Maddie. The two stood next to each other, looking at their oldest child's bloody face. Jack carefully kissed Jazz's forehead and Maddie brushed her hair out of her eyes and then did the same. Only then, with their daughter's body, did they leave. _

_High above, hidden in one of the rafters was Daniel. He had watched the whole thing and was able to ignore the feelings of disgust, repulsion and anger, but when saw the last scene, he huddled in a fetal position and cried. Just cried._


	3. To Remember Me By

**A/N:**Sorry it took me so long to update, but school started on Aug. 24th and it knocked the writing mood out of me (I hate homework!). But the good news is I have the next chapter partially written, so if people update, I'll have it up tomorrow or Monday! **So R and R!**

And thanks to **Jiece18 **and **purrbaby101** for reviewing!

**Chapter 2: To Remember Me By**

Daniel had woken up a few minutes ago, but felt no reason to get out of bed. It was only half-past seven, and Daniel was feeling drained. Maybe it was what happened yesterday with Jazz—

_No! I won't care anymore. She's not my family. _The only thing family had done for him was force him to keep secrets, hide, make him weak._ From now on, the only person I am going to care about is me. No more putting my life in front of others while saving the world from ghosts, no more getting dragged into situations where I get hurt because of my family. If I don't care about anyone else, I can't get hurt by them!_

Now Daniel was feeling more exhausted than before. He just sighed and rolled over in bed. Within a few minutes, Daniel realized he was not going to fall asleep and so he went into the bathroom (no, his bathroom), took a shower and changed. He then walked outside of his room, planning on just walking around Vlad's sizeable manor.

He had just shut to door to his room when something hit his jaw hard and sent him against the door. Daniel opened his eyes to see Plasmius, just about to fire an ectoplasmic blast at him. Daniel jumped out of the way and shouted, "What the hell is this?"

"Your training," Plasmius said shortly before firing another blast.

Daniel jumped out of the way and called, "I'm going ghost!" Plasmius smirked at him as two white halos surrounded him and into his ghost-form.

Daniel phased through the roof and went into the attic, turning invisible right before Plasmius went up and followed him. It didn't make sense to Daniel why Plasmius was attacking him to train him. He had thought Plasmius would teach him techniques and attacks and spar. This wasn't what he had imagined. But Daniel was going to give as good as he got.

He flew to Plasmius, still invisible, and landed a punch to his groin, which made Plasmius doubled over in pain. Daniel then collected all the energy he could into the ectoplasm gathering in his hand—it glowed a bright bloody red that lit up the whole attic with its eerie red light. With all the pent-up emotion Daniel had collect in the last two days, he screamed and fired the ectoplasm straight into Plasmius.

The blast tore form Daniel's hands, burning them, but going straight into Plasmius. The body spasmed as it ripped a hole in the floor it went through, going down to the ground floor, from the attic.

Daniel fell to the floor, no energy left to even float. He stood up uncertainly and walked slowly to the hole in the floor. He looked down.

Vlad, not Plasmius, was laying many floors below, smoke rising from his body, his clothes torn to shreds. Daniel felt himself freeze as he looked at the damage he had done.

"Scared of what you've done?" asked a voice behind Daniel he knew too well.

Daniel instinctively phased when he heard the voice stop, and rightly so, as he felt ectoplasm shoot through him. He immediately flew into the air and faced his opponent—Plasmius—as adrenaline rushed through him.

_The last one was just a copy; a clone, _he realized.

But before he could think more on that subject, Plasmius flew at him, making Daniel instinctively cringe. But Plasmius teleported away inches from his face, causing Daniel to inhale the residual smoke and start coughing. From behind he was hit with a kick and sent flying through the hole Plasmius had made. The wind was knocked from him when he hit the ground face-first, but got up as quickly as possible and fired blast after blast into the attic where Plasmius was.

Daniel felt something behind him and turned around, only to have Plasmius grab his neck and squeeze. Luckily, he was only squeezing, and not choking, but Daniel still had to fight for breath.

"I'm disappointed," Plasmius said, his face showing none of its usual arrogance. "Until you improve, we are going to do this once a day until you can stop me from knocking me out—not counting this time of course …"

That was the last thing Daniel heard before light appeared out of Plasmius' hand and hit him at point-black range, knocking him into unconsciousness.


	4. It Goes On and Ever On

**A/N: **Thanks to **tallie**, **digidestened7**, **IwuvMyKenshyPoo**, **Lotus-chan** and **dfd** for reviwing - I've never got so many reviws for one chapter.

No thanks to Anon - Danny would have to be OOC if he would ever join Vlad. I just like writing AU stuff.

**Chapter 3: It Goes On and Ever On**

Daniel felt himself wake up with a headache.

_A migraine is more like it,_ he though dimly, as it felt like something was squeezing him brain on all sizes.

Daniel groaned and very slowly tried to sit up. He was hit with a wave of dizziness, and slowly sat back down and the dizziness passed.

_I guess I shouldn't try get up for a few years—hopefully._

Daniel knew exactly how he had gotten here. Vlad. Vlad attacking him unprovoked, unfairly. He couldn't forget something like that. Vlad had nearly _killed_ him.

_Why did he do that? Why couldn't he teach me stuff and _then_ do that?_ Daniel felt a fiery, burning, _dark_ anger fill him. Vlad had attacked him with no warning. If he knew where Vlad was right now he would do this to _him_. Let _him_ get shot at point-blank range. Let _him_ feel all the pain Daniel was feeling now. Let _him_ feeling the desperation and hopelessness Daniel had felt when he realized he couldn't win.

Daniel opened his eyes and stood up out of bed, ignoring the pain and dizziness that followed. He walked stiffly to the door, but nearly collapsed, forcing himself to lean against the door frame, his head bowed as he pulled himself together. But he wouldn't go back to the bed, the dark anger told him. He would find Vlad and get him back.

Daniel moved from the frame and walked out of the room, now without nearly as much difficulty. He slowly walked around the numerous hallways, not knowing exactly where he was going, just knowing exactly what he was going to do.

It had been about ten minutes according to a clock Daniel had just passed when he heard something—a voice. It was coming form down the hallway. Daniel quickened his pace slightly and found a half-closed door with artificial light coming from it. He recognized one voice. It was unmistakable—Vlad. The anger burned inside of him, filling him with new energy, new resolve. He opened the door and walked in easily, like he had before the pain, before Vlad.

Both people in the room turned around at the sound, but Daniel only paid attention to one. Vlad, the anger said. There he is. Get him. Daniel didn't argue, didn't protest. Without a word, but with a flare of anger, he went ghost. Two black rings, not white halos, surrounded him. If he had looked in a mirror, he would have seen that his eyes glowed the bloody-red, just like Vlad's.

Vlad raised an eyebrow in interest and wordlessly went into ghost-form. Daniel flew at Plasmius with a scream and was able to get a solid punch in the face. Plasmius obviously hadn't expected Daniel's sudden increase in strength or speed from his anger.

Before Plasmius could recover from the blow, Daniel put as much energy as he could into the ectoplasm gathered in his hands. The red energy illuminated the entire room, making it the same color as the energy it was made of. Daniel shot it at Plasmius, who was still on the ground. Plasmius watched as the blast came nearer and nearer to him, but didn't look afraid. When it seemed inches from him, he simply phased, letting the blast go straight though him.

Daniel looked on in shock as his attack meant to finish, to _hurt_, Plasmius failed, just leaving an enormous hole in the wall. No! the anger seemed to yell at him. He couldn't do anything else. He was too weak … still weak.

"A noble attempt, but a foolish one. With you weak and Plasmius at full strength, and with him having years more experience, it would have been impossible for you to win."

Daniel knew that voice, the one Vlad had been talking to.

"Skulker."

"Ghost-child."

They both looked at each other, neither them nor Plasmius making a sound. Skulker smiled.

"I'm glad to see you joined us."

"I didn't _join_ you or Vlad," Daniel said disgusted.

"Or so you think," he replied cryptically. He turned to Plasmius, who had stayed silent throughout this whole exchange. "I think this meeting is complete."

"So it is," Plasmius responded.

Skulker flew up and phased through the roof. Then Plasmius turned back to Daniel.

"Congratulations," he said with a smile.

"For what?" Daniel asked, confused.

"You have unlocked the secret to my power. Unknowingly, but you have."

"And what would that be?" Daniel responded, but he was sure he knew what it was.

"Anger. Congratulations again. You see, you have always been more like me than you have ever realized."


	5. Since the Eve

**A/N: **Sorry about the last posting, but my inspiration has been very low lately. But it finally hit (sort of) in the shower last night, and so I wrote this when I was supposed to read about 50 pages of Great Expectaions. And that reminds me of the commercail where these people are having a buisness meeting in the shower becuase the guy says he gets ideas in the shower.

Well, read, enjoy, and review. And thanks to **dfd**, **Erin**, **IwuvMyKenshyPoo**, and **the Great Susinko**.

**Chapter 4: Since the Eve**

"I will never be like you," Daniel wanted to say. The old part of him at least, but he just pushed down that thought. He glared at Plasmius one last time and then left the room.

He slowly somehow found his way back to his room and lied on his bed, exhausted. Despite that, his mind was buzzing. He didn't want to be like Vlad; Vlad was a freak. Sure he was rich, but he was completely insane.

Daniel continued to stare at the ceiling as his mind raced.

And Vlad killed. He killed with sick pleasure, and Daniel was scared of that. He was scared of Vlad when he did it and he was scared he would do it.

Daniel squeezed his eyes shut as he remembered what Vlad had done to all the people in the hall … to Jazz.

Daniel opened his eyes and stared resolutely at the ceiling. He knew what he wanted, and as long as he remembered it, he would never have to be like Vlad. He wouldn't have to kill, and he could just be what he wanted, and Vlad would never be able to change that.

**X-X-X**

It had been one month, two weeks, and four days. One month, two weeks, and four days since Jack's and Maddie's reunion. One month, two weeks, and four days since Jazz had died. And one month, two weeks, and four days since Danny had disappeared.

Sam had counted, and she was still counting. And she had a feeling she would be counting for a long time. She didn't know why she did it. Maybe it was so when Danny finally returned, she could tell him exactly how long he had been gone, and exactly how much he had hurt her.

_Not that he's going to ever return …_

Once they had gotten back, Jack and Maddie had reported Jazz dead and Danny missing. Within a day, they had posted flyers all around Amity Park with Danny's face on it. They had passed the posters out for days on end, always driving around, asking around, hiring private detectives to help them. They abandoned ghost-hunting looking for their youngest child, abandoning their obsession because there was something more important, something worth more than whatever ghost-hunting could give. But Sam had a feeling Danny never realized that.

And Sam and Tucker had helped. They handed out flyers and always were looking and listening, to hopefully hear some news. But it had been a long time, and slowly, Tucker and the remaining Fentons had given up.

But Sam still had an ear open, and would often walk around the town at night, looking for a ghost-boy flying above the town; Amity Park's own personal guardian.

A week ago, Sam and Tucker had walked into the Fentons' lab, and it was horrible. Everything had been thrown around, the ghost-portal destroyed, all other ghost-hunting equipment pulled apart, like in a strorm of anger.

Jack and Maddie had lost their two kids and their passion in life, and Sam felt horrible whenever she saw them, but nowadays they rarely left their house.

Sam and Tucker had split up too. Sam hung out with the other Goths and Tuck with the computer geeks. Once Tucker had stopped looking for Danny, he and Sam got into countless arguments about whether or not to keep looking, often in the middle of the school. They didn't seem to have much in common anymore either. The space Danny had left was too wide, and they had too little in common. Sam often wondered if Danny had been the only reason she and Tucker had ever been friends.

Now it was one month, two weeks, and four days later, and Sam was in school. She had left the circle of Goths in the cafeteria and was going to the bathroom. She wasn't very close to them; more like acquaintances than friends.

Everyone around in the cafeteria was laughing and smiling and telling jokes, and that angered Sam. How could they be laughing when her best friend was dead! How could they be smiling when they should have been out looking for him! How could they be happy when she wasn't …?

But Sam knew why she felt Danny's death so much more strongly than Tuck. She had liked Danny, actually loved him; she wanted to go out with him. On her last birthday party, the one her parents had missed because they had been out of town, the one Danny held and was Danny's idea. On that birthday, when she blew out her candles, she had wished Danny would ask her out.

She felt tears come to her eyes at the thought of that happy memory. The jokes and laughter she and Tucker and Danny had shared, the cake, the presents, the jokes. That had been before Danny had gotten his ghost-powers.

Maybe it would be better to just forget, like everyone else, one side of her said. Then she wouldn't have to feel this pain anymore …

_No_, she thought. I'll _remember him even if anyone else won't._ I'll_ keep his memory alive … I'll keep him alive._


	6. Though You Have Forgotten

**A/N: **I am sorry about the really, really long wait, but I'm going to try to stop that from happening again. I am gonna update each of my two fics every other week. So I will update this fic this week, next week my Valdemar fic, the week after, this fic.

I'm going to try to stick to the schedule, but sometimes I might not update because of homework or something like that.

Thanks to the people who reviewed, **Ghost Writer's Assistant**, **Pheonix **and** GhostWolf **for reviewing and for your comments.

And the reason I deleted my second chapter was because it was stupid and the only reason I actually put it up was because I didn't know what to write. It was definitely for the best.

**Chapter 5: Though You Have Forgotten**

Daniel soared above Amity Park, feeling the breeze blow his hair. He hadn't done this in a long time, and decided to do it more often. He hadn't felt this relaxed—this free—since before he had—allied himself with Vlad. And that had been over two months ago.

_It seems so much longer and so much shorter than that at the very same time, _Daniel thought. _When I go to bed at night, the days seem to have lasted forever, but now that I think of it, it really hasn't been that long._

He pushed the thoughts out of his head, determined to just relax and enjoy the rare night of peace. He wasn't sure why he had gone flying, much less why in this direction. He had just finished dinner and had had the sudden urge to go somewhere, just to go. He had promptly left the table, but had made sure to tell Vlad before he actually went outside. The last time he had left without telling Vlad had not been a good time. And so he went outside and flew as fast as he could.

By now he had slowed down, not because he was tired, but because it was much more relaxing. His endurance had greatly improved since joining Vlad. Everyday he and Vlad would spar. In the beginning, he had always lost horribly and would have injuries that would pain him even in his sleep. Somehow, Vlad had never broken one of his bones, just sprained a few ankles. But burns, Daniel had had more then he ever could have imagined. Vlad never held back on the spars, and so Daniel would have half his body covered in horribly painful burns that would pain him through out the night and not let him sleep. Vlad lived by the rule that pain was the best teacher, and yes, Daniel's first month had been extremely painful and taxing, but he was much stronger now, as well as having better endurance energy-wise and to pain. It _was_ the best way to improve as quickly as possible.

But Daniel could still remember the first few weeks too well. As soon as he got out of bed, he would have to be on his guard. Sometimes he would be attacked as soon as he left his room, other times not till after dinner. Sometimes he wouldn't even attack at all, but Daniel would still be on his guard. Vlad would never give him any hints as to when he would attack, and so now the instinct to be aware of his surroundings had been drilled into him. Vlad still attacked at random after all these months.

And during those first few weeks, he and Vlad would fight, but it would only last minutes. Daniel, without a doubt, would be knocked out and Vlad, thankfully, wouldn't leave him there, but take him to the doctor he had living in the mansion as well. Daniel would wake up, covered in bandages, feeling horrible, and all he could do was take a bunch of medications and go back to sleep till the next day.

_It's a cruel and evil way to learn and something only Vlad would think of,_ Daniel reflected, feeling anger at his "teacher", _but it did work. I improved more quickly than if he had done little, unrealistic fights._

Daniel couldn't help but wince and think it was a decent idea at the same time.

But it didn't matter anymore. Now Vlad was actually teaching him ghost-attacks and techniques, like cloning, reflective shields, and many other things. Vlad would still spar him, and at random, but now Daniel was much better at holding up against him.

_I still can't win,_ Daniel thought bitterly, as the familiar, dark anger filled him once more. _I still can't win, no matter what I try. Why am I still weak!_

He forced himself to calm down, to take deep breaths. This trip wasn't to get angry over things, but instead calm himself down.

He could continue to work on that. After all, he had still improved greatly even if he wasn't up to Vlad's level.

Daniel had a surprising amount of free time these days. He would wake up around eight, to get ready for his tutor who always came at eight-thirty. Vlad had held true to his word and was getting him tutored for school, though Daniel thought it was pointless. The tutor was worse than any other teacher he had ever had, even Lancer, but he forced himself not to complain to Vlad. He knew that would be a bad idea.

Daniel would be tutored till around five, but he had quite a few ten minute breaks from the time he started to when it ended. Vlad would love to catch him off guard during those breaks, and Daniel, being practically brain dead from the tutor's deathly boring learning, wouldn't know Vlad was coming till he had already been hit. Daniel sighed at this.

But other than tutoring and Vlad's training, he had nothing to do. Sure he had homework, but that didn't seem to take him long anymore. The only other things he could do was watch TV and go on his new computer.

_I preferred my old computer, anyway._

Yeah, there was a library, and a huge mansion to explore, but those had gotten boring very quickly. And so Daniel found himself practicing one his ghost-powers more and more everyday. He had started working on his powers in his extra time about four months after he had first come to Vlad, and now it took up most of his free time. But despite all of his training and practice, he still was beaten by Vlad. Only bitter satisfaction that he lasted longer against Vlad everyday and the dark anger driving him to practice more and more kept him from giving up all together.

Daniel looked down and saw his old school, Casper High below him, and landed in front of the grey building silently. He didn't bother to change out of his ghost form; no one would be here at three in the morning anyway.

He walked slowly across the sidewalks, the only person in sight. He didn't think about anything, he just walked. Today was definitely one of the most relaxing nights he had had in a long time.

He couldn't help but take a deep breath of the cool, autumn air and smile. He continued to walk through Amity Park, but this time wondering why he had gone in this direction. After he had talked to Vlad, he had simply phased through the wall he had been facing and flew in a straight line. So, basically, this was a coincidence, he reassured himself, but he wasn't sure why he needed reassurance.

Daniel's smile faded slightly and decided to head to the old park the town was named after. It took him almost a half-hour, because he saw no reason to speed up his slow pace. When he got there, he saw a new swing set where the old one had been. He frowned at this.

The old swing set had been there since before he had been born. His parents had always taken him to the swings—the little kids' version of a mall, where everyone would meet and get together. It held good memories; memories of Tucker and Sam and—

A red ecto blast flew from his hand to the swing set, destroying it.

_I won't think of them anymore—I just won't. They mean nothing to me, just people who held me back and—and betrayed me and—and—_

They had held him back. That was all he needed to know, nothing else. Anyone who held him back was no friend, especially if they did it on purpose.

_Like Manson and Foley did._

He looked up quickly when he heard the crunch of shoes stepping on gravel and—irony of all ironies—Sam Manson was standing not fifteen feet away from him, looking at the smoking, warped metal that had once been a swing set.

**X-X-X**

Sam was feeling oddly awake as she laid in bed. It was almost three-fifteen and she had gone to bed hours ago, but sleep seemed to be having fun avoiding her. She had tried reading, drinking warm milk—everything she could think of that was supposed to help you sleep. Hell, she had even taken some of her mom's sleeping pills, and she was _still_ awake.

_Screw this,_ she thought. _If I was going to have fallen asleep, I would've already done it._

She got out of bed and put a light sweater over her pajamas. Since no one else was going to be out this late—_or early, depending how you look at it,_ Sam thought—she wouldn't put on anything more. The pajamas she was wearing were winter pajamas and warm in their own right.

Sam stepped out of the house, and decided to let her feet take her wherever. She swore silently as she noticed she finally started feeling tired from walking after a few minutes, but she wasn't going to go back to bed. With her luck, as soon as she laid down she would be wide awake again.

Luck hadn't been on her side for a long time now.

She was now a sophomore in high school, and her life seemed to be reaching a low point. She was doing worse in her classes that she had ever done before, she had no true friends among the Goths, and it seemed like her family life wasn't even going right. Her parents got into arguments constantly—when they were home at least, she mused cynically.

She had even started to stop thinking about Danny. It had been months, and she was too tired to keep hoping, keep wishing, keep _believing_. The only reason she still held faith feebly, was because of she didn't, Danny would die. He would be forgotten, he would be lost, he would truly, once and for all, die.

There was only one good pointing her life: the jocks had stopped picking on her anymore. Sam didn't understand it. They picked on Tucker more than ever, but they never touched _her_. In fact, Dash had even made some friendly acts to her, making small talk in the halls, helping her with her books, saying sorry Danny had disappeared. He had even invited Sam to sit at his table once, and she knew that that had surprised the rest of the jocks sitting there as much as it had her.

Sam didn't really understand Dash, but she was grateful for his kindness, that was for certain.

Besides, she had found out, he wasn't nearly as idiotic as he had been before. He needed a C-average to play football, and he had made an earnest effort to get one. In fact, he and Sam had gotten together quite a few times to study.

She smiled at the thoughts of the study sessions—they were always something she enjoyed.

Suddenly, a gory red light filled the city park in front of her, and Sam dashed forward to attempt to see what it was. The first thought in her mind was fire, but when she slowed down near the swing set the light had originated from, she froze.

Standing there was Danny Phantom.


	7. On the Edge of Eternity

**A/N: **I don't really have an excuse for such a long update, but I was trying to make this chapter as realistic as possible, an that took a few rewrites. Apart from that, there's not much I can say.

Thanks to **Horselvr4evr, DemonSorcess **and** CharmedMiliE **for reviewing!

**Chapter 6: On the Edge of Eternity**

Daniel couldn't breathe. Sam—no, Manson—was standing right in front of him. His mind was completely blank.

"Danny," she said softly.

Daniel panicked. What would she say when he found out he hadn't tried to stop the deaths Vlad had caused during the school reunion? What would she say when she learned he hadn't stopped _Jazz's_ death? What would she say when—?

Daniel flew off into the sky, faster than he had ever gone before. He just needed to escape. He knew when he heard what she had to say, it would only hurt him. And he couldn't stand to be hurt anymore.

With more resolve than before, he swore he would stop being weak and stop getting hurt. But he remembered easy how Vlad beat him with barely a thought and despite it being nearly two months of training, he was still weak. And the only way to do that was to destroy all his weaknesses.

Daniel stopped and turned around. The park was far below him and he couldn't tell if _she_ was still there anymore. But if she was …

Daniel closed his eyes and gathered all the energy he could into a single crimson orb above his head. His arms moved in the direction of the ground, and the orb followed.

Daniel tried flying away before he saw the ground explode, but that didn't stop him from seeing the red glow illuminate everything in sight.

And it suddenly struck him.

_What did I just do? _Daniel thought, horrified at that thought. How could he have shot down his best friend? Daniel turned around and sped to the ground.

"Sam!" he called. "Sam!"

The ground was smoking and the air around it almost unbreathable from all the dust that was in the air; it was choking him, making it impossible to see. The ground was turned inside out, and pieces of twisted metal lied everywhere.

"Sam!" he called again.

He went on his knees and started throwing rocks in the air, digging in the ground. But there was no one there. His eyes burned and filled with tear as he felt a lump grow in his throat.

"Sam … Where are you? I'm sorry. I don't know what I was thinking …"

He continued to dig, hardly noticing the air clear, when he heard a cough to his right.

"Sam!" He saw her covered in dust, making her normal black clothes look gray, despite the darkness of the night. He ran to her, and gripped her shoulders. It didn't look like she had anything more that a few bad cuts and bruises, but …

"Sam, are you alright?" When she didn't answer, Daniel shook her. "Please, wake up, be alright … Sam."

She started coughing more, getting the dust out of her lungs. Daniel continued to hold her.

"Thank god you're alright," he said quietly.

Sam looked up at him for the first time and her eyes widened. "Get away from me!" she shouted, her voice scratchy from the dust, and pushed away from him.

"What—what are you doing?" he asked, perplexed.

"What am _I_ doing?" Sam shouted at him. "What are_ you_ doing? Why were you trying to kill me?"

Reality hit him, and Daniel remembered it had been him who fired the blast.

"Sam," he whispered, and tears started running down his cheeks again. "I'm so sorry. I—I don't know what I was doing?" It was much harder apologizing when she was awake.

"Get away from me! I don't know you." Sam backed up and started limping away.

"Sam!" Daniel called and started following her, when she only ran faster. It made his own leg hurt, seeing attempt to run on her injured leg.

_What did I do? _He had tried to kill his best friend, and now she hated him for it. He sunk to the ground and tears continued to fall.

"Don't cry, Daniel," a sharp voice said from behind. Vlad.

"What are you doing here?" Daniel yelled, voice cracking. "Just get the hell away and leave me alone." Daniel expected Vlad to be mad, to be angry, to attack, but he just couldn't care. Instead, Vlad just smiled.

"Why are you mad at me, when it's Sam Mason you should be mad at?" he asked.

"What are you talking about?" Daniel got up and wiped away the tears that had finally stopped. He couldn't cry in front of Vlad.

"Ms. Manson is the one you tried to kill because she made you weak, no?" Daniel nodded, not knowing how Vlad had virtually read his thoughts. "You made the right choice when you tried to kill her; it was only by pure luck that she survived."

"I shouldn't have tried to kill her," Daniel said softly.

"No." Vlad's voice was cold, flat. "You have liked her for quite sometime, anyone could see that. She could have taken advantage of you, tried to trick you because of your weakness."

"Sam wouldn't do that." _Only I would, _Daniel thought.

Vlad took a step closer, forcing Daniel to lift his head to meet Vlad's eyes. "She would. Why do you think she kept your secret? Because she was your friend? No!" he shouted before Daniel could interrupt. "She wanted power over you!" Vlad's voice became quiet now, close to a whisper. "Why did she run away? Because she realized she couldn't take advantage of you anymore. A true friend would have stayed and heard you out." Daniel was about to say something when Vlad held his hand up. "You still don't believe me. Fine. Let's just she what _Sam_ is doing now."

Vlad took ghost form and started in the direction Sam had gone. Daniel hesitated for a moment, then followed.

They caught up to her quite easily, and made sure to turn invisible when they got close. Sam headed to her house, before she even tried going to the hospital to help her leg, which she was still limping on.

_What is she doing?_ Daniel wondered, not really wanting to see.

They followed her into her room, and Daniel couldn't believe what Sam did next.

She took a box from under her bed and tore the top off. Inside were countless pictures of Daniel, her and sometimes Tucker. She grabbed a handful of his pictures and tore them apart. She grabbed more and more and did the same.

"I hate you, Danny Fenton! I hate you!"

Daniel felt anger build inside him. How could she say she hated him, when she wouldn't even let him explain?

"I hate you!" she shouted again. "I _never_ loved you."

Daniel didn't hear anymore as Vlad pulled him out of the building.

"How can she say that!" Danny shouted at Vlad. "She doesn't understand! She thinks she knows why I tried to kill her, but she doesn't. She didn't even let me explain!"

But that wasn't what had hurt him the most. It had been seeing the pictures being torn. He knew people said things without thinking, but _Manson_ wasn't one to do _anything_ without thinking.

Daniel wanted to cry, to scream, to do _something_ before he exploded with his wild emotions. But he couldn't do anything. He was frozen in place, eyes closed. He shook from emotion and flew away, fast as possible. Eyes still closed, he flew, and flew and flew. But that didn't stop the tears from falling or the hurt from stopping.

**X-X-X**

"I hate you!" Sam screamed a final time before she collapsed on her bed. She pulled her legs to her but it just made her injured leg hurt more. Sam let go of her legs and started crying, hopelessness drowning all other emotions out.

"How could you?" she whispered to herself. "How could you betray me—kill me—when I love you?"

How could Danny think she would forgive after he tried to _kill_ her? There wasn't anything he could ever say to make her forgive him, not after he tried to murder her with his own two hands.

"I do hate you, Fenton! And I don't love you!"

But even as she said those words, she knew she wasn't being completely truthful.


End file.
